Monday, November 29, 1999

Cleric in ``terror scare`` on London flight leaves for UP

New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) A Darul Uloom cleric, arrested following his suspicious telephonic talk onboard a London flight, today left the capital for Deoband after he was released on bail. Nurul Huda (50), a prominent cleric, left the capital for Deoband in UP, sources said. He was released on bail last evening. When contacted, his lawyer did not discuss the case saying he was yet to read the court order. Huda, a resident of UP''s Saharanpur, was arrested on May 13 from an Emirates flight from Delhi to London at the IGI airport here after a woman co-passenger complained about his "suspicious" talk over phone. The woman told the cabin crew that she heard him saying over the phone that "jahaz udne wala hei, ham udane wala hei" (the plane is about to take off, we are about to blow up), police had said yesterday. Following this, he was offloaded and placed under arrest. The cleric told police that he was only telling somebody that "the plane is about to fly (jahaz udne wala hai)". Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal yesterday said, "it could have been a case of miscommunication. However, we are continuing our probe. We are checking his antecedents." He was offloaded at around 11 am on Wednesday when the flight was about to take off. Huda was on way to London to attend a religious conference there. Asked whether non-bailable sections will be invoked against Huda, Dadwal said, "we had a quick check. We don''t want to proceed" on non-bailable charges.